Apparently, naming corvettes after privateers (Francis Drake, Piet Hein, Henry Morgan), some of which are known to have participated in slavery is okay...

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Again, it's a case of military valours vs. civilian sensibilities. Acknowledging that someone was a skilled captain, worthy of imitation by other captains, is not equivalent of saying they were a good person. Drake in particular was a rather nasty individual, and certainly not a good role model for ordinary people - but any navy would be happy to have a captain as cunning and daring as him. For a corvette crew at war, he would certainly be a great role model.

Apparently, naming corvettes after privateers (Francis Drake, Piet Hein, Henry Morgan), some of which are known to have participated in slavery is okay...

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You think that's bad, there's a *real* USS George Washington!

(Oh-no-I'm-offended-by-another-Standoff-name aside, slavery and Wing Commander might be a good topic for discussion... it's a central part of Kilrathi society, of course, and apparently humans on the frontier engage in it with some frequency. Then the Privateer manual interestingly claims that the practice of selling human slaves in Gemini is 'like the 24th century'.)

Getting back to the transport question - I never did manage to get the Porpoise, Seal et al. to get nailed in ep3. I could ensure the survival of only two, but soon the Kilrathi just seemed to focus more on the player and not the targets.

I never turned the difficulty down to novice up to the end of ep4, but the Pirate base in ep1 and the Snakeir in ep3 were both hideously difficult, perhaps too difficult "IMO" purely based on the number of enemies coming after the player. It got a little excessive sometimes.

Ep4 has been wonderfully balanced though, and the storylines just keep improving.

Yea but that Snakeir was meant to be difficult. Ever read Fleet Action? Guarding those Broadswords in your Rapier while being swarmed by kats is pretty much straight out of the book. Think I only managed to destroy that carrier once.

Haven't played episode 4 yet (lack of computer of my own to download it on) but I'm willing to bet there's similar hideously challenging battles.

Yep, and the pirate base was also meant to be difficult (though that one varies a lot, depending on how many ships you still have when you reach the base - with all twelve fighters, it's not that hard... but that hardly ever happens).

Of course, all these problems should fade into insignificance compared to Episode 5. Or at least, we hope so. It's gonna be an interesting challenge, trying to make Episode 5 sufficiently nightmarish while still keeping it survivable .

Yep, and the pirate base was also meant to be difficult (though that one varies a lot, depending on how many ships you still have when you reach the base - with all twelve fighters, it's not that hard... but that hardly ever happens).

Of course, all these problems should fade into insignificance compared to Episode 5. Or at least, we hope so. It's gonna be an interesting challenge, trying to make Episode 5 sufficiently nightmarish while still keeping it survivable .

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Is the number of Talons and other pirate fighters at the base affected by how many Talons you down (if any) on your first flyby of the base?

(at this point in the mission:

Bradshaw: "We've found the base, Lionheart. There sure is a lot of bogies here, though."
Freyers: "Well of course there is. Retreat. Now!")

No, you're really supposed to just "Retreat, now!" at that point. If you stay far enough from the base, the Talons won't even engage you, IIRC. There's no sense in Bradshaw putting the whole operation at risk at that point (since he can't rescue hostages or recover Sabres by himself).

No, you're really supposed to just "Retreat, now!" at that point. If you stay far enough from the base, the Talons won't even engage you, IIRC. There's no sense in Bradshaw putting the whole operation at risk at that point (since he can't rescue hostages or recover Sabres by himself).

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Thanks, just wondering. The autopilot light does come back on after the dialogue, with the pirate base over 80,000 klicks away, so you do kinda have to go out of your way to get into a fight. I went in anyway, just to see what happens, so I was curious.

It is amazing to see such progress. I haven't logged since 5-23-2006, but I had to let you guys know what an excellent episode this one (as well as the 2 previous ones) are.

My personal opinion on Standoff is that from this day forward, all Wing Commander games, commercial or fan made will be compared to this one.

Oh, and another thing, concerning Canaris. He was a grandson of one of the most accomplished Naval Heroes of the Greek Rebellion of 1821. Ever since then, there isn't a time when there isn't a heavy warship (frigate or what have you ) that isn't named Kanaris, or E.P.K. (ΕΠΝ or ΠΝ) Kanaris/Κανάρης

(EPK=Ellhniko Polemiko Nautiko)/Greek War navy

One thing is certain a Kanaris ship is certain to be more than well appreciated here in Greece.